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TEER|NG em ran-now MACHINES APPLICATIDN FILED. HAYS I918. Reissued Sept. 5,' 1922;

Reissue d Sept. 5, 1922. v

UNITED STATE-S FRANKLIN n. ARNDT, or GALION, 01110,

'AssIGNo T0 TI-IE GALION IROLT wonxs AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or GALION, 01:10,. A CORPORATION or 01110..

STEERING GEAR ronnonnmnonrivns. v I

ATT T O FIC v Original No. 1,166,036, dated. December 28, 1915, SeriaI'N-o. 48,483, filed September 1, 1915. Application forreissue filed May 9, 1918. Serial 1%. 233,580.. 7

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN E. ARNDT, a citizen of theUnited States, and a resident of Galion, in the county of Crawford and State of Ohio, have invented certainnewand useful Improvements in Steering Gears for Road Machines, of which the follow-. ing is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention comprehends certain new and useful improvements insteeri-ng gear for road mach1nes,and relates more particularly to improvements in that type of steer ing gear in which means are provided for a lateral adjustment of the draft or engine pole with respect to the frontor steering axle of the road. machine.

i ..As is well known to th'ose familiar with the operation a=ndpractical use of machines of this character, it iscustomary to draw the machine along the roadby means "of a'traction engine which travels in the, middle of the road to obtain the best traction effect, whereas the road machine must travel at the sides of the'roa'd and means must,therefore, be provided to secure the best results, where by theline of travel of the road machine may be easily maintained regardless" of the relative position of the traction engine. For this purpose, the roadmachine is provided with a draft pole which is not rigidly connected with the front axle, as in the ordinary vehicle, but is laterally movable or shiftable relative whereby the operator, standing forexample, upon the platform at the rear of the road machine, may manually adjust the position of the pole relative to the machine, sothat the desired line of draft of the road machine' may be easily maintained irrespective of the angular or oblique position which, is asj Sumed by the draft pole.

Difliculty has heretofore been encountered, I with steering gear of this character, owing to the fact that the flexible shaft designed for manual operation under the control of jswinging bracket an its arch.

the operator of the road machine and arranged to shift the draft pole to the ri' ht' or to the left as required, has been in capa le of permitting the -machine to make very sharp'turns as, for example, in going-around a corner, it being sometlmes necessary to;

turn the front axle through an arc of at least 300, and consequently some-of the parts thereto, .means being provided sections. Fig. 7 tion of th'e flexible operating shaft of the have had to befunshi-pped j while the was being made and again reassembled, this and to provide a' noveland useful construe- I tion'of flexible shaft which'will insure the proper working of the parts at all times, and which can be easily and cheaply manufactured, which will bed uiable, and which will not beli able to get out of order.- 1 v A further object of the invention is an improved steering gear of ,thistype, in which a portion of the flexible shaft of the steering gear is journaled in or. upona laterally swinging bracket,saidbraeket being of prime importance in imparting to the shaft the re- 1 quired 'fiexibility' "whereby the necessary sharp turns mayjbemade.

' :With these and other objects in view, as

will more fully appear as the 'description proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions, arrangements and combinations of the parts that Isha'll hereinafter fully describe and'cla'imj For afull understanding of the invention,

reference is to behad to the following descripti'on and accompanying drawings,"

which Figure 1 of a road machine, as is necessary to indicate the character of the machine and to impart -a thorough understanding of the improvements of the present invention. 7

Fig. 2*(Sheet 2) is a perspective view in the nature'of a 'dia'gram showing. the draft is a side elevation of so much pole turned at a 'sharp angle to the'main supporting frame of the machine.

Fig. 3 is aplan view of portions. of the steering gear hereinafter specifically referr ed to; fl

Fig. 4 is a detail transverse sectional view through 'the worm gearing employed.

Fig. '5jis adetail erspective viewof-the Fig; 6 is a detail view of one of the shaft is a similar viewof another'secapparatus.

Fi'g. Sillustrate'S still another sectionof said shaft, and r orre-sponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and desig- V nated in the different views'of the accompanying drawings by like reference charao' rangementof parts or members of the flexters. I y I Referring to the drawings, the numeral I 1 designates the frame bars of a road ma chine, 2 the draft or engine pole which is so mounted that it may be shifted laterally. with respect to-the front axle of the machine as, for eXample,by being provided at its rear end'witha plate '2 pivoted upon the king bolt 2, said draft pole being provided at its forward end with" a clevis -31 whereby: it, may be. readilysecured to the whichyto therig t or to the left the front draft bar of a traction engine, and 4' desig-' nates a. relatively shorttongue which is rigidly secured to the front 'aXle in anydesired or approved wa and by the turning of groundor travelingwheels 5 are. steered.

Carried by g theftongue 4" is: an arcuate. bar 6, to ,the ,;ends of which levers. .7 are pivotally connected; intermediate :of their 1 ends,,asfiindicated at '8, said levers having inwa-rdly turned. hooked ends 9, to which the ends of asprocket chain are connectedjfand secured to the other and vrear end-s of thelevers7 arespring tension members ;11, designed to hold the chain 10 taut, and

to compensate for any shocks. -The chain 10. passes, over and across a pinion 12 secured to-.the lower end of a vertically, disposed spindle 13 mounted in a gearcasing 14 sup- I ported upon the pole, and 'the spindle "13 carries at its upper-end a worm gear 15, which, meshes with a worm 16 formed on or secured, to a longitudinally, disposed short shaft section 17, which forms a member of.

the flexible operating shaft hereinbefore referred to and designated fA as a whole.

T'hisshaft, asbest illustrated in Fig, 1, ex-

tends rearwardly over and above the.framework of the road machine, and is provided at its rear end with a? hand wheel 18 ara: the chain- 10, through the instrumentality q relative to the tonguev ranged in convenient proximityto the plat form (not shown) at the rear .of the machine upon which the operator stands to control not onlyflthe steering gear but the --other partsojf the machine, as will be clearly understood .by those familiar with this class i of machinery.

by turning-the shaft; A in therequired direction the spindle 13 will be-turned and of ;the spur pinion. 12, will be rotated to move the chain. 10 laterally and thereby cause a lateral shifting of the draft-pole the road machine.

.By the. use-of wornr I V gearing within the casing 14, it is obvious at no separate or of a swinging arm 4 and front 'axle' of ible shaft A, whereby the machine may be turnedaround relatively sharp corners with facility and without the necessity of any unshipping of the parts, and I shall now proceed to describe these features in detail.

The rearmost member or, section of the flexible shaftfA is designate-(119, and is in the form of a rod mounted for rotation upon its longitudinal axis in a rear arch 20, andanintermediate arch 21 straddling and supported upon arched frame bars 1 as best illustrated in Fig. 2. The intermedi ate section or member of the shaft, A is designated 22 and-is formed of telescopic sections 23 and-24, the tubular section 23 having the section 24 extensibly' mounted therein, both members, being so, shaped. as

best illustrated in Fig. 7, as tocom'pel them to rotate together, whichfis, of course, neces'sary for the *successful operation of the shaft. The adjoining ends of the shaft members 19 and 22 are connected together by a universal joint-25 and the lower for- [ward ,end of the intermediate member 22 is similarly connected,-as at 26, to a laterally swinging arm 27 mounted to rotate in a,-

bracket 28 which is formed withrelatively "short and long arms 'asclearlyillustrated l11=FlgS.- 1, 2 and 5, and pivotally mounted 'eccentrically-- (that is, nearer one arm, than the other) upon. a transversely disposed bracket-arch 29 secured in any desired way to the forward portions of the frame bars 1. he foremost member 30 of the' shaft prises a tubular, section 31and a solid-section 32'extensiblymounted therein, a spring 33 being: coiledaround-the section 32 and A is likewise telescopic in nature and comreceived within the section 31 and exciting such "a tension on the sections as to contract:

them or draw one within the other. This 1 member 30 is connected to the lower end of the forwardly and downwardly inclined connected by. a universal joint'35 to; the 9 short shaft section 'or'member 17 carrying ,From, the forego ng it will be seen that theworm 16, before referred to. Preferably the arm 27 is journaled in the laterallyswingingbracket:28-nearer one end of the armtha'n the other, as clearly shown in the drawings, whereby the forwardly and downchine to providea clearance so as to ermit the telescopic member 30to pass an er the frame,if required, in the turning movement andthe extensible or telescopic member 22 also co-operates in this movement of the parts, as is manifest, whereby the machine maybe turned about without the necessity of unshipping any of the parts,'and without any members binding 'orbecorning dislotelescopicmember 30, the same tendin to contract or close by this means, itis held properly rigid in its work and is prevented from swinging around which would render the slip jointsliable to come apart. From the foregoing description in connection with the accompanying drawings,

7 it will be seen that I have provided a very portions of the parts without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimedis:

1. In a road-machine, steering mechanism including a draftpole, a tongue, a connection between said draft pole and tongue to theformer, an operating shaft, for said connection, said shaft embodying extensible members, a rotatable arm having universal joint connection with said members and located between the same, a bracket arch, and

said. arch and in which said arm is journaled. f

2. In a'road machine, steering mechanism including a draft pole, a tongue, a connecments relative to the pole, aflexible operating shaft for said connection, said shaft embodying members each of which is constructedv of telescopic sections and one of said members being provided with a spring tending to close its sections together, an arm mounted between said extensible members and having universal joint connection therewith, and a laterally swingingzbracket in which said arm is mounted for rotary movement.

including a draft pole, a tongue, a connec tion between the two whereby the tongue may be moved to different oblique positions relative to the pole, a flexible operating ing universal joint connection with the rear cated. By providing a spring within the.

fembodying. a plurality of members having in the construction, arrangement,"and' pro} whereby the latter may be turned relatively to difl'erent angular positions relative to the a laterally swinging bracket mounted upon' tion between the two whereby the tonguemay be moved to different angular adjust- 3. In a road machine, steering mechanism shaft for said connection, said shaft embodying :a rear rotatable member adapted to be manually" turned, supporting means for said member, an intermediate member h'avmember, said intermediate member consisting of sections telewopicallyconnected together, a forwardly and downwardly in clined arm havinguniversal joint connection with the forward end of the intermediate member, supporting means for said arm permitting the same to be turned .laterally and allowing for the rotary movement of said arm, and a forward memberhaving universal joint connection at its rear end, with the forwardly and downwardly extending end of said arm, said last named member being also constructed in telescopically arranged sections.

4:. In a road machine embodying frame bars, a tongue, a draft pole and a connection between the tongue and draft pole whereby the former may be turned to different oblique positions relative to the latter, an operating shaft for said connectiomsaid shaft universal joint connections between their ends, said members including a telescopin intermediate member, a telescoping forwar member, and an arm between said members, a bracket arch carried by the frame bars, and a bracket pivotally mounted near one side upon said arch, the arm being journaled near one end insaid bracket, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a road machine, laterally disposed frame bars,a front or steering axle, a draft pole oscillatable laterally relative to the axle, and means for moving said draft .pole

line of draft of the machine including an operating shaft comprising a plurality of flexibly connected sections, one of said seca tions intermediate the ends of the shaft being relativelyf'short, and means for supporting said short'shaft section comprising an oscillatable bracket disposed above the laterally disposed frame bars and having its axis of oscillation approximately coincident with the axis of oscillation of the tongue, the short shaft section being journalled for axial rotation within the bracket, the forward portion of said short shaft section, when the bracket is turned to carry the shaft section approximately at right angles to the fine of--draft, projecting beyond said frame ars. I 6. In a machine of the character described, a pivotally mounted draft pole and means for angularly moving said pole to different positions relative to the line of draft of the machine and including a laterally movable, pivoted supporting member, and means for angularly moving said pole to different an- .gular-positionsrelative to the line of draft of the machine and including a Worm shaft conjoined With the po1e,- a shaft mounted uponthe pole and extending parallel thereto, a; braeketpivotecl upon'the frameof the machine for rotation on an axis coincident with the axis of oscillation of the draftpole,

an operating shaft comprising a plurality of flexibly connected 'secti0ns,-one of 'said sections being; mounted in said bracket for axial rotation and rotation "with the bracket around the axis ofthe bracket, another section having :a universal joint connection Witlrthe last named section and extending downward to and having a universal joint connection to the shaft and a section rearward 'of the section mounted on the bracket andlhaving a universal joint connection therewith.

In testimony whereof, I'hereunto aflix my signature. i I

" I FRANKLIN E. ARNDT.

carried by the pole, 15 

